"These charts are supposed to be weekly, Meer." "I know, but I keep having to go away for unhappy reasons." "Oh OK, but you'd damn well better tell me what were the top ten best-stelling Steam games last week, or I'm going to spraypaint pictures of bottoms onto your house." "Alright, alright, here you go."

I had twin criteria for this. The first was 'is it a decent game?' and the second 'does it meaningfully evoke the spirit, themes or characters of the movie in addition to having Quite Good Guns And Graphics?' The second saw quite a few games which would otherwise qualify ruled out. This year's Mad Max, for instance, was an agreeable murder-romp but it's much harder…

Once a week most weeks, the RPS hivemind gathers to discuss An Issue. Sometimes it’s controversial news, sometimes it’s a particular game, sometimes it’s favourite things and least favourite things, sometimes a perennial talking point. This week, off the back of most of us being obsessed with Metal Gear Solid V, we're talking about open world, or sandbox games. Big map, go where you please,…

You probably like action games. But which ones should you like best?! We've narrowed it down to 25, and then put them in the unimpeachably correct order. Read on for details of the best action biff-zap-collect-me-do gaming you can stuff down your trousers.

What are the best Steam Summer Sale deals? Each day for the duration of the sale, we'll be offering our picks - based on price, what we like, and what we think more people should play. Read on for the five best deals from day 10 of the sale.

Last night, BAFTA gathered in London to dish out sinister metal masks to a chosen few gamesfolk who had been found worthy of such an honour. I tend to be dismissive of Awards Shows, unless something that I really like wins a tiny trophy - then I'm quite happy and momentarily convinced that the world is just and right. It happened with Cave Johnson at…

PAGE ONE, PANEL ONE Graham lies in a crumpled heap beneath the looming figure of DOCTOR NO IDEAS. CAPTION: This looks like a job for… PAGE ONE, PANEL TWO Pip, dressed in a (heroic) frog costume, sits typing at a computer. PAGE TWO, PANEL ONE A closeup of a Gchat window with the text "G, are there any games which do violence as well as…

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor came out last year to widespread appeal. Sure, the combat’s just a gorier, hyper deadly version of what we’ve already seen in the Batman Arkham games. Yeah, open world icon assassination was clearly lifted from Assassin's Creed. But this time those icons were orcs, with actual memories and personalities, balanced on a power structure which the player was free to tinker…

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor's moment-to-moment biffing is a trick we've seen before, but it's still impressive to watch your wraith-Ranger shift and flip with seamless animations between punching one gribbly uruk and gutting another. Yet it's the Nemesis system, which gives the action context within the larger army of Sauron and world of Mordor, that makes every assassination matter so much more and which makes…

Dear Rock, Paper, Shotgun, I miss your smile. I miss your comments on my previews wondering how much sugar I have consumed to write it and what the heck kind of quirky BS is this and whether I will or will not ever get around to writing about triple A video games for you. But I come to you today to ask you about yourself.…

Dear Video Games, Please observe what Monolith are doing with Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. Recognising that its bland-o hero could be anything with two legs, two arms, and two blades, they've been releasing free outfits that turn Johnny Stabman into other people. First he became gothy villain the Black Hand of Sauron, and now we can play as a lady - Lithariel, the warrior commander…

If you've been playing Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor for a while, you're probably thinking "Hey! Why did Johnny Stabman here stop being so angsty? I miss that angst! When will he be angsty again?" Well, my friend, you're in luck. Warner Bros. yesterday released a free little DLC pack with a costume that lets you dress like a... I was thinking like a black metal…

MOOOOOORRRRRRRRRDDDOOOOOOOOORRRRRRR, is the primary form of communication about Monolith's Middle-hyphen-Earth: Shadow Of Mordor. However, we managed to break free of this trapping, and instead converse about the game in ever-so-slightly more erudite form. Below Jim, Alec and John have a natter about orc killing matter.

Now I've played for a large proportion of the last five days, with the main storyline completed, and a worrying number of the collectibles and side quests ticked off, I feel far more prepared to give a more definitive statement on Middle-Earth: Shadow Of Mordor: I love it. When I wrote my Wot I Think So Far of the game last week, I already knew…

I haven't finished Middle-Earth: Shadow Of Mordor, because for whatever tiresome reasons Warner refused to give us (and seemingly us alone) code before the game’s release. This is after a couple of lengthy days spent plugging away at what is a huge, detailed, and really rather fantastic brawling action game, set betwixt Hobbit and Lord Of The Rings (and importantly, it’s fun even if you…

Middle-Earth: Shadows Of Mordor looks like quite the prospect. An open world RPG in Tolkein's universe, developed by Monolith. And you play as the best of all the classes, a ranger! It sounds rather exciting, but we've just learned that we're not going to be able to tell you if it is or not before the game's released, on the 30th September in the US.…

Middle Earth: Shadows of Mordor grabs the current zeitgeist like only licensed games can, cobbling together a third-person action game from bits of Batman: Arkham Asylum, bits of Assassin's Creed, bits of Michael Bay-derived editing and sound effects. Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily. I like some of those things! I also like punching orcs. This could be a pleasant game, and the new…

While watching the latest trailer for Middle Earth: God of War-dor, I realised that I'd started to think of the Lord of the Rings references as a sort of product placement. There's a splatter of blood, a decapitation, a roaring of monsters, and then the narrator mentions something about Sauron. It's branded decapitation, y'see. In the latest video, a ranger uses 'wraith' powers to see…

I remember when Lord of the Rings games legitimately excited me. Of course, I was roughly 12 seconds old back then and wanted to grow up to be Legolas (life experience has since taught me that Aragorn is where it's at and also that far better fantasy literature exists), but there was a time when the prospect of mowing down a million orcs like so…

Huh? If there's one thing I didn't expect the next big Lord of the Rings game to resemble, it was Assassin's Creed. But that's all I could think about when watching this footage of Middle-Earth: Shadow Of Mordor (well that, Bacon Pancakes, and this otter). It's an open-world action RPG, and when Wraith-possessed (sigh) Ranger Talion sauntered up a wall and rope-walked over a courtyard,…